Meepo level up - Upgrading from 1.0 to 1.5

I originally posted this article to That Esk8 Life in December 2017. After I wound down That Esk8 Life as a brand in early/mid 2018, Meepo reposted the article to the blog section of their own website. Below is my July 2018 revision of the same article.

It all started a few months ago when I decided to lay down the cash for a Meepo board. I’ve been known as a bit of a budget board skeptic in the past and thought it was time to put my money where my mouth is. So I bought the board and put it through its paces. In short, I was pleasantly surprised. It’s genuinely a great performer. Best in class - budget class, that is!

I think it’s important to further preface this article by saying that from version 1.0 to 1.5, my overall opinion of the board remains the same. Performance wise it’s hard to fault. Speed, range and hill climbing capability, for the price, it really is a no-brainer! But just because the board performs as well (and in some cases better) than some of the "premium" boards out there for three times the price, this does not make the Meepo board a premium board in its own right. If you buy a Meepo board expecting to be able to treat it with the same level of abuse Casey Neistat treats his Boosted boards and expect the Meepo to take that kind of beating and not break, you’re going to be bitterly disappointed.

The Meepo is a simple board, made from budget, generic, wholesale parts. This is why there are so many similar boards out there at similar price points. If you spend more than $1500 on a board that’s comprised of a lot of bespoke, proprietary parts, then you’d expect it to be able to take a large amount of heavy use and abuse and stand up to it. But when you’re spending less than $500 on a board, even if the performance is the same/similar/better than the $1500 board, we’re talking about a completely different level of quality, durability and longevity. Remember that.

A Meepo isn't really a replacement for a "premium" product. A least not yet. It’s not the board to get because even though you really want a Boosted (or similar), you can’t afford one, so instead you think about purchasing a Meepo and have a mind to treat it in the same way as you would a Boosted. Don’t do this. If you want an electric skateboard to essentially replace your car, don't get a Meepo. Save up and buy a Boosted (or similar).

​You buy a Meepo if you already have a "premium" board and want a second/back-up/travel board, or perhaps you only have short, campus distance commutes on forgiving terrain, or perhaps you just want a little run-about board for running errands in your local suburb. The Meepo is great for these things, but less so for daily, arduous punishment in harsh conditions.

With the improvements made to the 1.5 over the 1.0, the Meepo is now one of the best entry level or "budget" electric skateboard for beginners too. If all you're looking to do is "dip your toe in the water" to find out whether or not esk8ing is the hobby for you, a Meepo is a great way to start without breaking the bank!

All-in-all the Meepo board is what I'd generally consider a "light use" board. It’s great for short trips on easy and forgiving terrain. I’m convinced a Meepo board can and will give its owner years of faithful service if the owner treats it right, i.e. treats the board for what it is: It's a sub-$500 budget board. Treat it as such and it will treat you well in return. Start really over-using and abusing it, and yeah, things are probably going to fall apart pretty quickly… It’s a sub-$500 board, what do you really expect?

So, with all that out of the way, let’s get into the upgrade!

WHY I DECIDED TO UPGRADE

Keiran sent me a new remote for my 1.0 when mine was diagnosed as faulty. Both speed settings were "fast" - I had no slow mode. When I received the new remote I was excited to see that it was one of the newer versions of the same Winning/Nano clone that Keiran was using for the upcoming Meepo 1.5. The power switch was now a button, there were now three speed modes, and most importantly the reverse button had been recessed and was now flush with the surface of the rest of the remote, significantly reducing the risk of accidental activation.

Keiran and I chatted further about the upcoming 1.5, which resulted in an offer from him to fully upgrade my 1.0 to a 1.5 if I agreed to write about the experience from a completely unbiased and 100% independent point of view. I agreed!

So, what does this mean? It means, yes, I did receive the new 1.5 deck and the new 1.5 battery from Meepo at no cost (full disclosure), but I have not been paid or remunerated in any other way to write this article. I actually think it’s a testament to Kieran that he was willing to go down this road with me. Me, a guy who’s usually pretty harsh on budget boards. I think he really wants to ensure that a good, balanced and objective opinion on his product is out there for his customers.

IS MY MEEPO A 1.0, 1.5 OR SOMETHING ELSE?

To recap: My Meepo board started life as 1.0, then it was upgraded to the new remote, as my initial one was faulty. Then my board was upgraded to the 1.5 deck and battery. The only element missing to be able to call my board a "true" 1.5 was the upgraded urethane on the rear hubs. So I guess it’s not quite a 1.5. I guess it’s more like a 1.4, but I didn’t quite stop there...

Something I wanted to do but never quite got around to doing on the 1.0 was upgrading the bushings, pivot cups and bearings. Bushings were swapped out to Venom 90a barrels board side and cones road side. Pivot cups were swapped out to RipTide 90a’s and bearings were swapped out to some spare abec 9’s I had laying around.

So, what is my Meepo? A 1.4.5? Yeah, let’s go with that. 1.4.5!

The only other thing I would consider upgrading at this point would be the front wheels to some genuine American urethane instead of the Chinese clones. I’ll probably wait until the stock wheels are knackered, but other people might not want to wait. Some suitable options would be genuine ABEC11 90mm Flywheels, Enertion 90mm R-Spec Ghost (front) wheels or Ollin 90mm Popoca wheels. Stick to 90mm centre-set wheels, which all of these are, and you’ll be sitting pretty.

THE UPGRADE PROCESS - WHAT DO YOU GET?

If you get one of the pre-assembled decks, like I did, it will come with everything you need to simply move the drivetrain from the old deck on to the new. Literally plug ‘n play! Doing a deck swap on a Meepo 1.0 would usually involve sourcing a new deck between $100-$200 on average, routing a channel along the top of the deck for the for the XT60 cable to run, drilling holes for said cable to run into the enclosures, drilling the holes for the enclosures to screw onto the deck and then re-gripping the board. For some people that’s a hell of a lot of hassle, particularly for tool-less, shed-less and yard-less apartment dwellers!

The 1.5 pre-assembled deck comes in at just over $115 USD, and not only takes care of all of this for you, but it also has that concave we were all craving in the first place! The channel routing is done, the cable is installed, the deck is gripped, all holes are pre-drilled and the foam pads that help seal the enclosures are all already installed! You even get a bag of extra screws and some fresh shock/riser pads!

Transferring the trucks is as easy as you’d expect, but I did hit a bit of a snag with the enclosures. I don’t know about the newer 1.5 enclosures, but transferring the 1.0 enclosures onto a deck with concave edges isn’t a smooth transition (other 1.0 deck-swappers know what I’m talking about).

​The trouble I found is that I needed longer screws to deal with the concavity of the deck. The shorter screws of the 1.0 deck and even the screws that came with the new deck (which were the same) weren’t long enough to reach all the way through the thicker deck, the foam and the gap created by the concave through to the other side of the enclosures. I’m sure with perseverance they probably could have (why would Kieran supply them otherwise), but there just wasn’t enough thread for me to feel confident that screws and enclosures would be secure. So, off to the hardware store I went for some more screws of the same type, but about 10mm longer. Bummer, they only had them in silver!

Another minor issue is where the screw heads on the 1.0 tended to sit flush with the topside of the deck, on the 1.5 there’s about a <1mm gap that you just can’t screw down. (July 2018 edit: This was because I didn't counter sink the screws).

[Shortly after writing this article for the first time in December 2017, Meepo came out with slight design tweak to the 1.5: The all black deck, also known as the Meepo 1.51.]

The 1.5 battery is physically the same size as the 1.0 battery, so it sits perfectly in the enclosure without any trouble. Again, plug ‘n play! The difference between the 1.0 battery and 1.5 battery is the type of cells that are used. The 1.0 used Samsung 22P or LG MF1 18650 cells, whereas the 1.5 exclusively uses Samsung 20R 18650 cells, which are much higher quality.

The choice made by Meepo to upgrade the battery for the 1.5 is clearly a response to the battery sag issues riders were experiencing with the 1.0. In the last half-to-third of the 1.0's battery’s charge, acceleration, top speed and hill climbing capability would drop considerably, which to be fair is pretty normal battery behaviour, but better cells can help reduce the impact of this effect, which is what Meepo have done.

The claimed specs with the 1.5 battery remain the same. Same top speed, same range and same hill climbing as the 1.0. The difference now is you can expect peak performance for a lot longer with the new battery; far less sag or drop-off effect as the battery depletes. We’ll put this to the test a little later in the article.

The 1.5 battery comes complete with a new charging port, which you can either use or clip off and plug the battery straight into the existing charging port on the enclosure, which is what I did.

If you want even more range from your Meepo, you also have the option to upgrade even further from the new standard Samsung 20R pack to the new Sanyo 20700B pack, which is made up of larger cells. Kieran says this pack adds about 10km (6.2 miles) of range over the new standard Samsung 20R pack. However, the Sanyo pack comes at a significant investment, about $300 on its own or about $200 to order outright as part of your board purchase.

I was using the new standard Samsung 20R pack for all the testing to follow, not the Sanyo 20700B pack.

We’ve already spoken about the upgraded remote, so there’s no need to cover that again here except to say that I think it’s great. The throw of the throttle and brake is bang on and I personally don't experience any lag at all. I’m actually a big fan of this little, cheap remote!

SO HOW DOES IT FEEL?

It feels pretty damn good. Leagues ahead of the 1.0! The bow/arch in the centre of the deck has been reduced from the 1.0, which is a bit of a shame. I actually would have preferred if a bit more of the bow/arch had been retained as it creates more flex.

The major problem with the 1.0, of course, was with the lack of concavity across the width of the deck, particularly where the board cradles your feet. The 1.5 deck cures this by offering a mild-to-moderate W concave, particularly around where your feet are typically placed on the board. Thank God!

The overall flex is about the same from the 1.0 to the 1.5, although there is perhaps a little bit less rebound in the 1.5 than there was in the 1.0 due the loss of the bow/arch in the centre of the deck.

The 1.5 deck is also about an inch to an inch-and-a-half longer than the 1.0 (38 inches total), increasing the overall stability and comfort of the board.

I highly, highly recommend changing the Meepo’s bushings! The stock bushing have nothing in the way of rebound or response. If you enjoy a responsive carve, get those bushings out of there for something better right away!

The new deck plus $20 on new bushings make the Meepo feel an entirely new board!

PERFORMANCE

For this section please note that I weigh 92kg/203lbs, ride in fast mode all the time and ride flat-out as often as it is safe to do so (which is most of the time).

Top Speed: During my early testing of the 1.0 I was only able to achieve a top speed of 20.5mph/33kph. In later testing I achieved pretty close to the claimed top speed of 22mph/36kph.

Range: Previously achievable range on the 1.0 was about 6.8–8mi/11–13km, depending on what level of sag you were willing to put up with.

With the 1.5 battery my upgraded Meepo now achieves a solid range of 8.2mi/13.3km!

​Can a lighter person with a less aggressive riding style achieve the advertised 11mi/18km range (in real world conditions)? Probably.

[I always like to mention that I can only achieve about 3.5mi/6km on a standard Boosted with the same aggressive riding style. I’d wager the Meepo 1.5 would probably match the Boosted’s extended range battery quite easily in real world conditions. The Sanyo pack would beat it, most definitely]

Hill Climbing: The biggest hill around my area suitable for testing is a 15.7% incline. The Meepo 1.0 made it up on a full charge no problem, so the 1.5 was going to make it without question. A better test would be to see whether or not the Meepo 1.5 could make it up on about half battery.

During the test the half charged Meepo 1.5 made it up the 15.7% incline without any problems. It sagged to the point of one audible beep from the ESC, but then recovered. On checking the battery meter at the top of the hill, the meter had fully recovered to the half charge I started with.

Sag: Interestingly, the 1.5 battery feels stronger out-of-the-gate! The sag does indeed come on a lot later in the ride, probably the last quarter as supposed to the last third (or nearly half) of the 1.0 battery.

​The sag, when it hits, is also more of a “ridable” sag all the way down to the end of the battery - it still moves with a reasonable pace. With the 1.0 when the sag hit I got off and walked (as it was faster)! On the 1.5 I was able to drain the battery all the way to the end, which got me the solid 8.2mi/13.3km range. Never once did I think walking might be quicker, even at the very end.

Below is a gallery of screen shots taken from my phone taken whist riding (do not try at home). Each one was at the top speed I could achieve at the time as the battery depleted:

Summary:

Still hitting advertised top speed 5km into the ride.

Still hitting close to advertised top speed over 8km into the ride. Would have been well into the sag on the 1.0 by now!

Starts to slow down a little past the 10km range.

Achievable top speed starting to reduce a lot in the last 2km.

Sag in full effect for about the last km. Still gets 25.5kph. The 1.0 would have been crawling (if it was still going)!

Don’t expect miracles. It’s still a battery/battery pack and all batteries sag, but yes, this is definitely a step up from the 1.0!

ONE ISSUE​An issue that seems to inherent in the type of ESC used by Meepo: Very occasionally one of the motors will reset in a fraction of a second as a result of hitting something in such a way that it must disturb the motor sensor. This could be something small or large, hard or soft, whilst going fast or slow. I’ve found it to be fairly indiscriminate. All-in-all this is an extremely rare occurrence and as long as your stance is good you’ll barely notice, but it is something that could catch inexperienced riders off-guard.

WORTH IT?

If there ever was a time to buy a Meepo, if you were sitting on the fence about it before, now is the time!

The Meepo website has been optimized for multiple currencies and shipping is now included in the price. All of the hard work has been done for you now! The charger even comes with your regions specific power plug now. No more travel adapters!

The Meepo Board 1.5 is now priced at $419 USD (that’s about $547 AUD for my fellow Aussies) to-your-door! No additional expenses. No need for a deck swap anymore either (unless you really want to).

With the new Samsung 20R battery pack that’s gone into the 1.5, you’ll get all of the nice little performance gains I’ve mentioned throughout this article. Even more so if you upgrade further to the Sanyo 20700B pack!

Spend $20 on some better bushings and the Meepo is priced to suit a lot people. It’s a perfect local area errand runner, campus commuter or second board for seasoned esk8ers who have a more heavy-duty board for the tough mudder, but want a good backup board and/or travel companion. Beginners looking for an inexpensive entry point need look no further!

People say it all the time, but it’s true: For the price, what you get from a Meepo 1.5 is simply amazing! It has all of the performance of boards that cost three times as much. Of course it’s worth it!

​But remember, take care of your Meepo. Look after your Meepo and it will look after you.